Creating New TIP Criteria

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The MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) guides the TIP project selection process. To better reflect the vision and investments outlined in Destination 2040, the adopted LRTP, the MPO revised the criteria used to evaluate projects. The criteria are broken into categories that correspond to the goal areas in the LRTP: safety, system preservation and modernization, capacity management and mobility, transportation equity, clean air and sustainable communities, and economic vitality. With the technical assistance of Transportation for America (T4America), the MPO is also pursuing ways to incorporate cost-effectiveness measures into the project selection process. The new criteria were developed throughout 2020 and used for the first time in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 to score projects eligible for funding in the FFYs 2022–26 TIP.

Overall Criteria Revision Process

Fall 2019–Spring 2020: Conduct public outreach, finalize T4America technical assistance work, begin drafting criteria changes

Spring 2020: Share results of public outreach with stakeholders and the MPO, continue drafting criteria changes, discuss proposed changes to criteria in phases

Summer–Fall 2020: Present draft criteria, solicit public feedback on draft criteria, conduct test project scoring, and approve final new criteria

Winter 2021: Use new criteria to score projects eligible for funding in the FFYs 2022-26 TIP

Current Updates

Cover of A Guidebook to the Boston Region MPO TIP Criteria January 2021

Learn More About the New Project Selection Criteria

When deciding what transportation projects to fund, the MPO uses criteria to assess how each project will help accomplish the MPO’s goals for transportation in the region. With the endorsement of Destination 2040 the MPO had the opportunity to revise the project evaluation criteria to better reflect the updated regional goals. The MPO adopted the new criteria in October 2020. Check out the TIP Criteria Update Guidebook (PDF) (HTML) for details.